BRIGHTON — Jermain Crowell had a sneaking suspicion he hadn’t seen the last of Brighton’s football team this season.

“They’re going to cause some problems on the other side,” the Belleville coach said after a thrilling 40-35 opening-night victory at Brighton. “I wouldn’t be surprised, if we do what we’re supposed to do, we might bump into them again.”

And, wouldn’t you know it, here they are, Brighton and Belleville, ready to line up one more time in a budding rivalry that has produced two classic finishes.

Belleville, as expected, finished on top of the East Division in its first season in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association. Brighton hasn’t lost since Week 1, posting a perfect record in the West.

The third-ranked Tigers will host the sixth-ranked Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Friday for the KLAA championship.

Fans can only hope the game is as epic as the first two encounters between the teams. Brighton fans, of course, hope for a different outcome.

The teams opened the 2017 season at Michigan Stadium, with Belleville overcoming a 12-point deficit with 2:22 left in the fourth quarter to win in overtime, 34-31.

Brighton once again nearly had Belleville and its collection of major college recruits beaten in this year’s opener, taking a 35-34 lead on a 41-yard touchdown pass from Will Jontz to Jack Krause with 3:42 left in the game.

As it turned out, the Bulldogs left too much time on the clock. Belleville converted two fourth downs on the game-winning drive, including a fourth-and-goal touchdown pass from the 6 from Christian Dhue-Reid to Jalen Williams with 12.1 seconds on the clock.

“You get a real test of what your kids are made of,” Brighton coach Brian Lemons said. “There’s so much talent on the other side of the ball that every rep, every play, it seems like it’s the most important play of the game.”

Last year’s loss to Belleville was a sign of things to come for Brighton, which lost four games by a total of eight points to miss the state playoffs.

This year’s loss only strengthened the Bulldogs’ resolve. They bounced back with seven straight victories, posting three shutouts along the way, to earn the rematch.

“We’ve been playing with a chip on our shoulder,” Brighton senior running back Chris Seguin said. “We made that game so close. Just knowing we have the potential to really win a game like that just put us in a good mindset for the rest of the season.”

Belleville will be dialed in to try stopping Jontz, who has run wild against the Tigers in both meetings. In two games against a defense loaded with college prospects, Jontz has run 45 times for 275 yards and six touchdowns. Even knowing what Jontz was capable of the second time around, the Tigers still allowed Jontz to rack up 169 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries in the season opener.

Jontz knows he’ll be a marked man.

“I assume so,” he said. “Just got to plan around it.”

Jontz’s performance against Belleville elevated his status as a college football recruit, moving him into the top 100 on the 247Composite rankings for Michigan’s senior class. He’s currently ranked No. 83.

“It’s stressful and fun, just because they’re not a pushover team,” Seguin said of games against Belleville. “You’ve got to really work. It’s just a really good test to see where you’re at. There’s a reason why they have so many kids going D1. They’re hard workers and they never give up on a game.”